Bunny and Monster

I made this bunny as an experiment with wool felt. I had never made anything with wool felt before and decided a little bunny would be perfect. It wasn't until after I completed him that I discovered that there is a right side and a wrong side to wool felt. Guess which is on the outside of this bunny?? Sigh. He's all fuzzed out because he is inside out. I don't know how long he'll last. I thought that he also didn't look quite like a bunny should look. He kind of looked more like a monster. So, I made a monster next:

This little monster is made with orange and red scraps, which I quilted onto some cotton batting. You can't really tell, but I quilted a whole bunch of free-motion "M"s as the quilting design. M is for monster, and all that. I really like the way he came out, and I like the feel of the batting on a stuffed toy. I think I shall call him Mel. Mel the Monster.

You can kind of see the orange fabric behind his eyes. I wonder if that means I should choose a thicker or more busy fabric for his eyes. Or, if it means I should cut out the fabric behind the eyes so there is only batting behind them. Or both. Or maybe it's scary for a monster to have see-through eyes!!??

Logcabin Purse

This purse wasn't planned. It kind of just happened. I have this list in my head of projects I want to do and in what order I'm going to do them. Then, I get an impulsive idea, like this one, and make it - TOTALLY disregarding all the other unmade projects that are waiting patiently in line for their turn. This bag is a line cutter.

I had all these fun, bright fabrics and thought I'd experiment with them by making a logcabin block. I cut out all the strips and thought they looked hideous together, so I decided to scrap the project entirely and put it aside. A funny thing happened the next night, though. I decided it wasn't really that hideous and I might as well go ahead and make it. It would be a good learning experience, if nothing else. I need to experiment more with fabrics. I tend to lean towards lots of tone-on-tone and solid colors.

Anyway, the end result turned out not to be hideous! And, I did learn lots of things. This purse has my very first ever quilted handles. It also provided me an opportunity to use the seam gauges on my walking foot for the first time (I was always too chicken to try it and just drew all my lines on the fabric). So, I call it a success. Ta da!

Tulips Aren't Green

This wall hanging took a lot longer than I thought it would. In fact, I still have some threads I need to tuck in in the back and it needs a label, but I just had to take a picture of it so I could feel accomplished.

I have a real love for bright, rainbow colors and every once in a while it manifests itself in quilt form. My stash is just full of brights, although I am very short on reds and oranges. It makes me want to go buy fabric, but I've been so good lately about using up my stash and not buying anything new. OK, I had a setback this week when I went to my local quilt shop in order to drop off a quilt top for Project Linus. I didn't intend on buying anything, but they had so many fabulous new fabrics that I couldn't help myself! I only bought $8 worth, so I don't feel too bad. I buy fat eighths in order to not feel so much guilt. I truly am a scrap nut. After I came home I realized that I completely forgot to check out their $0.10 scrap basket. I guess I'll save that for the next time!

More Sampler Blocks

I finished two more blocks for my ongoing sampler charity project. As I make these blocks, I realize that I am in danger of loving this project too much. That will make it very difficult to give it away. Of course, by posting about it I'm creating some accountability for myself.

I really love the way the black and red one came out. The fabrics really work together. I'm less impressed with the other block. The pale yellow just doesn't work the way I wanted it too. It would have worked better with a light green, but I didn't have any in the right shade. Part of me says I shouldn't care so much, but I do.

I created a set in Flickr where I am posting my sampler blocks as I make them. It's another way of motivating myself and a handy way of arranging the blocks to see how they look in different settings. It's already making me want to make more.

Fun With Reconstruction

Last weekend, I went shopping with my mom to a discount clothing store. I was browsing through the petite section when I found a size 24, irregular, pair of Liz Claiborne jeans for $2.99. They must have been reduced at least four times - I couldn't even remove all of the stickers to see the original price! It was such a good price and such a nice, lightweight denim that I had to buy them and give them new life.

This purse is made from the bottom of one pant leg and one of the rear pockets. I thought the pocket made a super cute flap. Of course, I had to embellish it with some applique and embroidery. I must say, I'm really loving the embroidery on denim. It works really well.

The interior of the purse is made from a sweet 1930's reproduction floral print. I bought it at least two years ago because it was on sale and I loved it, but it remained in my stash because I couldn't decide what to do with it. Finally, these jeans forced me to free it from the stash. Seriously, this was one of those projects that just demanded to be made. It wormed itself into my brain and I obediently created it. Now I'm afraid I'm in love with it. I never realized I was a purse person until I started making them. Now I want all the purses. Who needs shoes - give me purses!

Bridesmaid Dress Revisited

Back in May, I posted about dismantling my latest bridesmaid dress and the fact that I wasn't sure what to make with it (you can see me modeling it on the right; four months pregnant and filling out that top very nicely!) When I saw that the theme for Whiplash this month was Wardrobe Surgery I knew that the time had come to find something to do with that dress. The problem was that I still had no idea what that was.

Right away I decided that I should stick with my strength and make something quilted. I've been toying around with machine applique lately, so I figured that this could be an opportunity to improve upon those skills and maybe even push them a little further. After quite a bit of thought I settled on the idea of turning my bridesmaid's dress into a flower girl, despite my less than stellar abilities at drawing/sketching. Creating the pattern was definitely the hardest part! I knew that I wanted the skirt of her dress to be ruffled, so I figured that it had to be in three dimensions. There was a lot of making-it-up-as-I-go-along (something I do a lot!), but I'm really pleased with the result.


The girl's dress, the borders and the backing are all made from the original bridesmaid dress (the backing is made from the skirt's lining). The ribbons are also from the dress - they're the loops used to hang it on a hanger! The binding and applique are all done by machine, since that is my latest challenge to myself. The embroidery, however, is all done by hand. I don't see myself ever switching to machine embroidery - I like the hand embroidery so much better. The quilting is also done by machine. I had a hard time deciding how to quilt the white space around the girl. I knew it didn't look right leaving it blank and am really proud of myself for coming up with the flower and leaf design. I usually just say, "to heck with it!" and stipple it all over. This looks much better than stippling.

Since I dismantled a dress and created a wall hanging out of it, this project is obviously being entered in the deconstruct/reconstruct category of the whiplash competition. I'm really enjoying how these challenges are pushing me to be creative in new ways. I can't wait to see all the fun wardrobe surgeries everyone comes up with!

Playing With Color

I have so many little scraps of fabric that they are taking over my sewing room. And yet, I can't resist the basket of $0.05 scrap pieces every time I go to the fabric shop. Anyway, I decided to have fun with the fabric by just making a few blocks. No project in mind - I just wanted to play with fabric combinations. And I'm so happy with the results!

These blocks have inspired me to make a sampler for my next Project Linus quilt. Every time I get tired of my current project, or just need a break, I will play with my scraps and make a block or two. Then, by the end of the year I will have a completed top that I can donate to the nice ladies at the quilt shop to finish for me (or, rather, for some lucky kid).

Label Completed!

The label is designed and it is definitely in the spirit of keeping it simple. I mean, it's only two inches wide, so there isn't much room there for detail.

I chose the flower because it is a motif I often turn to when I'm doing applique. It's simple and classic and fun to sew. The hardest decision was actually what colors to use in the design. I love orange and blue, so I fiddled around with that for a while. I had an orange flower with a blue center and a blue flower with an orange center. Eventually, though, I decided that orange was a bit impractical as it would probably clash with most things. A part of me really wanted the orange., but I went with the green. Green is soothing and natural and not very daring. Maybe I'll go back to the orange for future labels. You know, if I ever use up these labels.

WIP Friday

Today is Friday and I'm a little reluctant to post a work in progress, since this latest piece I'm working on is my baby. I decided to continue to try out the machine applique, as you can see. But I'm a tad more ambitious than a flower this time. I'm going 3D!!!

Do you ever make plans for a project and then it comes out waaaaaaaaaaaay different than you imagined?? That happens to me all the time, but so far this project is coming out exactly as I imagined and I'm hoping that doesn't change as it progresses. Because I'm loving it so much right now I might explode.

On other fronts, I'm working with my husband to design a little logo for garment labels to place on my work. I guess they're not exactly garment labels, as I don't make garments, but I don't know what else to call them. Hopefully we'll be done by next week and can place the order. I'm starting to get excited - labels look so professional. At least, that's the plan.

Parting With My Quilts

I have a habit of making baby quilts with no baby in mind and then stockpiling them. This is great because when a baby shower comes along, I can just reach into the stash and wrap one up. This is also great because it allows me the time to really work on designing quilts I enjoy and trying out new techniques at my own pace. However, this is a dangerous practice because I sometimes fall in love with quilts and don't want to give them away - even if I have no use for them myself.

I've found that, for the most part, I am most in love with whatever quilt I made last. Once I make another quilt, the previous quilt becomes safe to give away because I have found a new love to replace it. There are, however, a few exceptions to this rule.

I totally made this quilt up as I went along. I made little applique blocks to teach myself hand applique. Once I had enough, I made the scrappy four-patch blocks to go with them and sewed them into a quit top. I love the bright colors and that they came out pretty good for a first attempt.

While I was in the middle of making this quilt, I found out that I was pregnant. Shortly after completing it, I had a miscarriage. I did not make this quilt for that baby, but I didn't have anything that I had made for the baby, which made it hard to part with the quilt. There was also the fact that my husband really liked this quilt, and he's not that into quilts. I decided to hold on to it for a while in the hopes that I would one day have a little girl.

Over a year later, when I found out I was going to have a little boy I decided that I would be able to let go of the applique quilt. I had already made a memorial wall hanging for the first baby, so I wasn't as attached to the quilt as I was previously. And I knew it would be harder to give away this quilt if I held onto it for much longer. So, I gave it to my god-daughter when she was born, almost two years after the quilt was originally completed.

This quilt also features hand applique and embroidery. I received a book with lots of quilt blocks for my birthday one year and decided to try my hand at some Sunbonnet Sues. They took a very long time to complete and that's probably why I still have this quilt, over two years after it was completed.

I guess the lesson here is that if there is a lot of hand work in it, it's going to be hard for me to give it away. It's hard to justify giving away something that is worth so much. Well, I've finally decided to give away this quilt. It's going to be raffled off in November for Divine Mercy Care, an organization close to my heart. I hope these little Sues find a good and loving home.